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About the author: Steve and Julie Reddy are preparing for their new life in Spain. But how did they decide where to live and what to do? Read their story to find out how they came to set up their rentals and property management business Spanish Villa Care www.spanishvillacare.com.
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About two years ago my wife and I started to think about our future, where will we be in five or ten years time, even as far as retirement. It was then when we started to ask ourselves where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do. We are not at retirement age so couldn't rely on a steady pension to keep us going, and more to the point what pension will we have by the time we retire (in about 20 years time or longer if governments have their way).
I've always believed in having a life with as few regrets as possible without taking unnecessary risks. Our first concern was our lifestyle, working hard was never a problem, but not benefitting from our hard work was, as we always put 100% into whatever it is we do. The next issue was where to live, after weighing up various possibilities and opportunities available and looking at different options everything kept leading us back to Spain. No matter how much we looked at the other options such as North America, Greece, Bulgaria, none ticked all the boxes all of the time.
Having settled on Spain, the next question was where about in Spain. We had friends in Gibraltar, family in Malaga so using these ready to hand resources we started to explore. Staying in various places and asking ourselves what we liked and more to the point what we didn't. My brother lives in Arenas 20 minutes inland from Torre del Mar, and what a wonderful place that is, up in the valleys and spectacular views. However a 4x4 was essential and getting around wasn't for the feint hearted. But we had discovered that the coast wasn't the answer and inland Spain might be the way to go, the people are so friendly it's scary.
I then did something that I've always been against but I had an ulterior motive so this was my excuse. I went on an 'inspection tour' (Oh no!, I hear you say), one to one I might add, to the region of Murcia. Against my better judgement but a way of visiting at an area I probably would never have thought of. I was fortunate to meet up with a guide who hadn't yet had time to become influenced by the industry as I was only his second client. He drove me everywhere, told me everything he knew and clearly tried to focus on what I was looking for, even though I did change my mind a couple of times (my prerogative). After seeing many properties it began to dawn on me that the property wasn't the issue, as they say, it's the location.
The coast was very impressive especially for me to continue my diving, but it just didn't quite get there. Eventually I'd mentioned inland and I'd read about a place called Hondon, which seemed nice, it was then when his eyes lit up and he said I think I know exactly what you're looking for, without saying anymore he said we would start early in the morning as it would take about an hour and a half to get there. Off we went the next day, away from the coast, heading up towards the hills. We came off the main freeway (Autopista if you like) and on to a B road through Orange groves and orchards as far as the eye can see. Eventually opening up into beautiful countryside surrounded by Mountain ranges on every side. Absolutely stunning. We had reached the area of the Santa ana del monte mountain range near the famous wine region of Jumilla.
So impressed was I by the whole thing I flew home on the Wednesday and flew out with my wife on the Friday for the weekend, fortunately my wife agreed that this was the place, except she chose a different propery than me, a slightly more expensive one (her prerogative). To cut a long story short, it took less than a week to find a place we liked at a price we could afford. Anyway, that was the 'where are we going to live' sorted out. The next question was 'but what are we going to do'.
It was then that Spanish Villa Care was born (www.spanishvillacare.com). We looked at what we would want if we had a property that we couldn't look after all of the time due to work commitments and time restraints. We thought we would want a reliable, trustworthy friend or family member to take care of our investment while we were away. And that's where we are today.
Take time out to visit our site and take advantage of our facilities.
Spanish Villa Care is a family organisation that evolved out of an ambition to change our lifestyle and to use our multitude of skills in helping other people keep their dreams alive. When we first decided that Spain would be our destination we looked at what we would want if we had a property that we couldn't look after due to work commitments and time restraints.
We thought we would want a reliable, trustworthy friend or family member to take care of our investment while we were away. That is what Spanish Villa Care want to be for you. A friendly, reliable and professional company that offers all you can ever want at a standard you would expect. Whether it be key holding, cleaning, gardening, transport, property maintenance or management, plus a multitude of other services, Spanish Villa Care are here to give you choice.
If you are renting or selling your property we also have an online booking system with it's own calendar that you can use to record your occupancy and take bookings over the internet.
Spanish Villa Care property management would like to offer members of EOS a chance to register for free on our web site at www.spanishvillacare.com This will allow you to submit your property for rent, sale or keep track of construction while it's being built. We only charge you for the purchase of the booking system which comes with it's own calandar for each property. We will even give you your own email address and a webmail facility where you can view your email from anywhere in the world. We are currently offering this booking system at a reduced amount of €50 per property instead of our normal €80. This is to cover administration and setup costs.
Go on, take a look, we're sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.